Primary kids taught how to stay safe
Volunteers wanted to help pupils understand abuse
The issues of bullying, neglect and sexual abuse are being talked about with Renfrewshire’s primary school children to help them protect themselves.
Child protection charity the NSPCC says it is crucial that youngsters know where to turn if they need help.
Research from NSPCC Scotland has revealed that, on average, at least two children in every primary school classroom across the UK will have suffered some form of abuse or neglect.
Now the organisation is asking people in Paisley to play their part in helping stamp this out by standing up in schools and telling children there is help at hand.
NSPCC Scotland is appealing for more volunteers in Renfrewshire to help deliver Speak Out Stay Safe assemblies in primary schools.
The cha r i t y b e gan the groundbreaking assemblies in Scotland in 2012 and since then its staff and team of dedicated volunteers have spoken to tens of thousands of school children the length and breadth of the country.
The NSPCC’s Alan Stewart, school service manager for Scotland, told the Paisley Daily Express: “We deliver assemblies in schools for primary ones to primary threes, and another one for P4 to P7 because of the ageappropriate materials.
“The aims of both assemblies are the same – so that children can understand abuse in its different forms and recognise it and know how to protect themselves and identify a range of support that they can access if needed.
“So, trusted adults, Childline for example.”
The younger group assembly takes about 20 minutes and the older one about 30 minutes, both in school time, and they are delivered by a member of staff or two volunteers.
Alan explained: “We use a mascot called Buddy who is shaped like a speech bubble.
“And that is particularly relevant for younger children who are just starting school, and may not be able to read.
“The visual side of a speech bubble, hopefully, reminds them its OK to speak out.
“So we introduce Buddy as a mascot and then we do a range of interactive activities in which we get children to understand five different kinds of abuse. That would be bullying, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect.
“And then we use exercises so that children can identify who the trusted adults are that they can speak to in school and out of school.”
When the five types of abuse are introduced to the younger children, the word ‘abuse’ is not actually used.
“For example, instead of saying ‘sexual abuse’ we would say ‘privates are private’.
“And that already links into a campaign that the NSPCC offer free resources for and the is delivered in school and it’s called “Pants”, so children of a really young age – nursery, primary one – can understand that what’s in their pants is private.
“And instead of saying ‘physical abuse’ we would say ‘hitting’, and instead of saying emotional abuse we would say ‘hurting children’s feelings’.
“For the older children, primaries four to seven,where they might have already come across these terms we use the proper names, we will use ‘emotional abuse’, we will use ‘sexual abuse’.
“And that comes with a standardised definition, so no one is going into schools to give their own take on what they think bullying is,” Alan added.
In 2017/2018, almost 1,400 primary school pupils across Renfrewshire received the service in 15 schools.
Now the service is calling on more volunteers to help keep children safe from abuse.
Currently, NSPCC Scotland has team of just over 100 volunteers throughout the country, and they would like to add to that.
Alan said: “We’re not looking for a person specification.
“Our volunteers come from different walks of life, they don’t have to have any background in working with children.
“We provide training – online training, face-to-face training – and then there’s a period of mentoring, so nobody’s dropped in to a school on their first day. It’s a gradual process till the volunteers achieve what we call ‘sign-off’, so they’ve gone through a quality assurance process.
“And that quality assurance process looks at their ability to deliver the messages effectively and, importantly, that they’re engaging and also have an understanding of how to deal with any issues that may arise in school.
“And that could be from a child wanting to speak out or dealing with IT issues.”
People who have successfully gone through the volunteering process will be asked to attend two schools every month or 10 schools per year.
“It depends on the size of the school. One school could be half a day, one school could be two days,” added Alan.
Anyone age over 18 can apply to volunteer for Speak Out Stay Safe.
Asked if there was a specific type of person being sought as a volunteer, he said: “Somebody that cares about the welfare and protection of children, and can be engaging enough to relate that to children as well.” ● To find out more about volunteering visit www.nspcc.org.uk/what-youcan-do
We use exercises so children know who trusted adults are Alan Stewart